


Communication Issues and Forging Friendships

by totallyfluxd



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aromantic, Asexual Character, Gen, Queer platonic relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 08:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyfluxd/pseuds/totallyfluxd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras thinks Grantaire is in love with them. Grantaire thinks Enjolras is in love with him. They're both very, very wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Communication Issues and Forging Friendships

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fraternite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fraternite/gifts).



“…which is why if we start petitions around now…” Enjolras trailed off. Usually this would be the point where Grantaire would interrupt them, arguing that their plans would never work and other such cynicisms. But now, Grantaire was sat quietly at the back of the room, just staring at Enjolras’ face. Flustered, although unsure why, they continued.

“Um, yes, starting petitions now may act as a spark that will ignite the anger of the people and implore them to join us at the rally next month.”

 Combeferre began explaining the statistics behind the petition at that point, but Enjolras wasn’t listening. They were watching Grantaire again, trying to see what he was doing. He had stopped staring now and was concentrating hard on something in his lap. Then Enjolras saw him reach for a pen and place a highlighter on the table. This confused Enjolras even more, as Grantaire didn’t study at home, never mind at meetings.

Combeferre finished his speech and tapped Enjolras on the shoulder as a signal they should wrap up the meeting now.

“Thank you, Combeferre. Don’t forget to share the petition, and for those of you working on flyers,” Grantaire looked up, “please email your designs to me by the next meeting. Thank you all.”

Enjolras smiled as they sat back down, and people stood up to leave the Musain. The core group remained for a short time, but eventually they too began to leave (something about a party Bahorel invited everyone to). Only Enjolras, Combeferre and Courfeyrac were left.  

“Are you okay, Enj? You seem kinda distracted,” Courfeyrac asked.

“I’m fine, really, I was just a little confused. Grantaire didn’t interrupt once, he just stared at me for ages, then started studying if you can believe it.”

“He did seem awfully quiet,” Combeferre agreed.

“Wait, _our_ R studying? Is he ill?” Courfeyrac exaggerated his shock. “Hold on, I think he left something.” He went over to where Grantaire had been sat. “Um, Enj, I don’t think he was studying.”

Courfeyrac walked back to the others carrying a napkin. “Unless this counts as studying?” He dropped the napkin onto the table so they all could see what was on it. It was a drawing of Enjolras, eyes blazing as they gave a speech. Their hair was coloured with a yellow highlighter. There was silence for a moment before Combeferre spoke.

“Courf, do you think he..?”

“Yup, I can’t think of another reason, and it’s not like this is the first time, or even the first indicator.”

“He what? ‘Ferre what are you on about?” Enjolras sounded panicked.

Combeferre sighed before answering. “We think he likes you, Enjolras. Romantically.”

Enjolras made a small, strangled sound and didn’t look up for a moment. “He does know, right? That I’m aro ace?”

Combeferre and Courfeyrac looked at each other. Courfeyrac answered. “Well it’s not like you’ve ever told him. Have you actually told anyone besides us?”

Enjolras shook their head.

“You probably ought to tell him, so he doesn’t get his hopes too far up,” Combeferre added.

“I know I just… Of all the people… He’s so great, he’s an amazing artist, an excellent debater, and from what I’ve seen and heard from Jehan and Bahorel, especially, he’s a good friend. And I’m going to have to turn him down.” Enjolras sounded genuinely distressed.

“It’s better than leading him on,” said Combeferre comfortingly.

“I’ll get the lowdown on how he feels about you, I promise,” Courfeyrac smiled and placed a hand on Enjolras’ shoulder.

“Thank you, Courfeyrac, you’re a good friend,” Enjolras clasped his friends hand and smiled weakly.

* * *

 

The next day, Courfeyrac texted Jehan. Zie was closest to Grantaire of all the amis, and so was most likely to know what was going on in the boys head.

_hey, meet me at the musain in an hour? need to ask you something x_

_k c u then xx_

Courfeyrac was early, and bought coffees for himself and Jehan. The younger friend arrived not long after Courfeyrac had claimed a table.

“Hey, Courf, what did you want to talk about?” Jehan asked as zie settled into hir seat. “Oh, thank you for the coffee!”

“It’s no problem,” Courfeyrac smiled, but was noticeably nervous. “Um, I need to ask you about Grantaire. I, uh, well, me and ‘Ferre, we uh, we think he might like with Enjolras. And wondered if you might know anything about that?” His voice went strangely high towards the end.

Jehan raised an eyebrow at him. “If I’m honest, Courf, and I do try to be, you ought to be asking Grantaire this question.” Zie sipped hir coffee in a way zie thought looked menacing but really just left hir with a foam moustache. “I don’t want to spread information without his permission.”

“No, no that’s fair enough, I just wondered,” Courfeyrac said. He had the sense to look at least a little shamefaced.

“Is there any reason you were just wondering?”

“If you’re keeping schtum ami, so am I,” Courfeyrac smiled as he took a drink.

* * *

 

When Jehan left for the Musain that morning, Grantaire was still asleep. He’d come home from the meeting and immediately gone to his studio (the far side of his bedroom where the light is best) and painted the sketch on the napkin he had left in the Musain. He hadn’t stopped painting until he was finished at 5 in the morning and then collapsed into bed, not emerging until 1pm. He was just finishing his cereal when Jehan came home.

“Morning,” Grantaire called from the couch. “Got your note, what did Courf want?”

“Hey. He wanted to talk. Um, about you, actually,” Jehan said.

“Oh?”

“Yes, it’s quite funny actually, he and Combeferre think you like Enjolras in a romantic way,” said Jehan with a smirk.

Grantaire guffawed. “Where on earth have they got that from?”

Jehan joined him on the couch. “Well I must admit, to anyone who doesn’t know that you’re not exactly interested in relationships or anything, it does look an awful lot like a crush, how you act around him.”

“I guess so…  Hmm…  wait, does Enjolras know what they think?”

“Courf didn’t say, but I can’t imagine they’d keep something like that from them, especially not Combeferre, those two are as close as anything.”

“Jehan, what if Enjolras likes me. Like, romantically. And I don’t like him back, I can’t like him back, oh god Jehan what if I have to turn Enjolras of all people down?” Grantaire’s words sped up in his panic.

Jehan placed zir hands on Grantaire’s arms, holding him steady. “Grantaire, you can’t know for sure that’s why they were curious.”

“But what other reason would they have to be curious if they didn’t intend to set us up, Jehan I can’t do this.” Grantaire was breathing hard and fast now, clearly panicking.

“Of course you can Grantaire, it’s going to be fine. Let’s not think about this now, okay? We can decide what you’re going to do later. Come on, we can watch shitty horror films and forget about it for now, yeah?” Zie took Grantaire’s hand and pulled him into hir lap, stroking his hair as his breathing began to even out. It wasn’t long before Ghost Shark was on the TV, and Jehan said nothing about how tightly Grantaire was gripping hir knee.

* * *

 

Later that week, after another meeting from which Grantaire was conspicuously absent, Combeferre, Courfeyrac and Jehan managed to get themselves a table away from the others to talk.

“Where is Grantaire?” Courfeyrac asked.

“He, uh, he wasn’t feeling too well this afternoon so he thought he’d better sit this one out,” Jehan lied. In actuality, Grantaire was most likely drinking far too much cheap vodka on the couch while watching some shitty reality TV show, attempting to put Enjolras out of his mind.

“You were never a good liar, Jehan,” Combeferre said quietly.

“No, I don’t suppose I am… I told him about our conversation the other morning, Courfeyrac, and he’s got it into his head that Enjolras is in love with him and he’s not handling it well.”

“Wait, he thinks Enjolras is in love with him?” Combeferre and Courfeyrac looked at each other, amused.

“Yes, is he wrong?”

“Very. Like, so incredibly wrong,” Courfeyrac said, smiling.

“Enjolras won’t mind us saying… they’re aromantic asexual. They’ve never liked another person in that way their entire life,” said Combeferre gently.

“Oh,” was all Jehan could say. “That’s good news then.”

“Good news?”

“… Shit, give me one second.” Jehan took out zir phone and texted Grantaire.

_m i ok to tell cf n cb abt u bn aro ace? xx_

A moment later Grantaire texted back, giving the okay. At least, Jehan was 90% certain that’s what he said, it was harder than normal to make out his drunk texting. Combeferre and Courfeyrac sat in awkward silence while the textual exchange went on.

“I’m okay to say… Grantaire is also aromantic asexual. He was so scared about having to turn Enjolras down.”

“Enjolras was worried about the exact same thing,” said Courfeyrac.

“Our friends are idiots aren’t they,” Jehan deadpanned.

“That they are, mon ami, that they are,” Courfeyrac agreed.

“So what do we do now?”

“We should get them to talk to each other for once, if they’d just spoken to begin with we wouldn’t be here now,” suggested Combeferre.

Courfeyrac perked up. “I have a plan…”

* * *

 

The next day they put their plan into action. Jehan was oddly quiet when Grantaire woke up, hardly speaking until Grantaire had eaten breakfast.

“Combeferre’s coming over this afternoon. He’s bringing Enjolras with him.” Zie said the last sentence so fast it was almost one word.

“He’s doing what? In which case, there’s somewhere very important I have to be this afternoon, I really should-“

“Hold it, you’re staying here, you need to talk to them, R,” zie said firmly.

Grantaire pulled his knees up to his chest and glared angrily at Jehan over them. “Fine. But afterwards I am getting very, very drunk and you are helping me.”

“Deal. They’ll be here soon, I’m going out with ‘Ferre while you talk. Call me when you’ve got everything sorted, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay,” Grantaire mumbled into his knees.

Jehan patted his shoulder. “Good luck, ami.”

The doorbell rang just then and Grantaire froze. Jehan let Combeferre and Enjolras in, and Grantaire attempted to remember how to breathe properly. He uncurled himself into a sitting position just as their friends came through the door.

Jehan greeted them, “Hey Enjolras, hey ‘Ferre, ready to go?”

“Yup,” Combeferre said. “You’ll be fine, Enj, promise.” He clapped Enjolras on the shoulder and left with Jehan. Enjolras and Grantaire were left staring at each other in silence.

After a few very awkward moments, Grantaire shuffled over on the couch to make room for Enjolras. “You might as well sit down, this might take a while.”

Enjolras sat down as far from Grantaire as he could without sitting on the arm of the sofa. “So. Combeferre and Courfeyrac seemed to think this was going to go well. I’m starting to think they might be wrong.”

“So am I. Might as well get it over with though. Jehan told me they’d asked hir if I was in love with you.” He winced slightly as he spoke. “And the only reason I could think of them asking that was if you were… if you liked me. Romantically.” Enjolras smiled at that and finally turned to look at Grantaire. “Oh god was I right?”

Enjolras was stifling laughter now. “No, no, god, no, not that- I don’t dislike you! You’re great, you’re, well, you! I’m just… I’m aromantic asexual. I don’t do romantic relationships.”

Grantaire’s jaw dropped. Once he gathered himself he managed, “so am I. Aro ace, that is.”

“Oh,” Enjolras let out a sigh of relief. “See, this whole time, I thought you were in love with me,” Enjolras smiled again, bigger this time.

Grantaire actually laughed. “Jehan thought you might think that, I guess I can see why, I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, I’d just like to know… what were you doing when you were staring at me? The other week you got so distracted by my face you forgot to argue for the whole meeting.”

“I was, oh this is going to sound so creepy, I was learning your face so I could draw you. And paint you. I stopped myself before I started on sculpture, that seemed a step too far, plus I suck at sculpting anyway. Could never do you justice,” Grantaire looked down bashfully.

“Is that what that was? On the napkin? You left a napkin behind, you drew me on it.”

“Oh, that’s what happened to it. It was a study, I painted it when I got home. You’re not seeming to find this creepy why aren’t you finding this creepy?”

“It was incredible, Grantaire, even just a little sketch like that. I mean, I was rather confused as to why you kept staring at me, but honestly I can’t bring myself to mind. If you wouldn’t mind… I’d quite like to see the painting. Only if you’d let me, of course.”

“It was just a sketch, it was nothing, but I guess you can see the painting. It’s not great, but I mean it’s of you, you at least deserve to see why I was staring at you like a stalker.” Grantaire stood up and left Enjolras on the slightly decrepit couch while he fetched the canvas from his room. When he returned, Enjolras had stood up too. “Here, like I say, it’s not much but-“

“It’s wonderful, Grantaire. You know I know nothing about art so maybe I don’t have the most valid opinion here, but this is amazing. I could never understand why you put yourself and your art down so much, you’re fantastic.” Enjolras looked up from the painting and at Grantaire, genuinely bemused by their friend’s self-deprecation.

“Honestly, Enjolras, I am not all that great,” Grantaire smiled.

“I was terrified I’d have to turn you down, I really was. You’re a fantastic debater, your art is amazing, and you’re a good friend. And here I was, unable to like you back. Thankfully I didn’t have to turn you down, that would have been awful.”

“No, see, I am not the kind of person people fear turning down. And I mean it’s not like turning you down was going to be a walk in the park, have you seen yourself? I really think you might be my muse, you know. None of my art is great but when I paint you I don’t automatically hate it, hell sometimes I even go so far as to say it’s decent.”

“I don’t understand though, why..?” Grantaire couldn’t help but find the confusion on Enjolras’ face adorable.

“It’s called chronic low self-esteem and clinical depression, Enjolras, trust me, I’m more than used to it by now.”

Enjolras wasn’t sure how to reply to that. After a moment they spoke again. “Do you think, maybe, we could try being actual friends? We were really only friends by technicality before all this, and I always thought maybe we could be close. I missed you at the last meeting, two in a row I couldn’t argue with you, it felt weird.” They were blushing now, as though they were embarrassed, which clearly couldn’t be the case, Grantaire had never seen Enjolras embarrassed about anything, he didn’t even think they could feel embarrassment.

“That is a truly idealistic question, Enjolras, I mean, you know how we fight.” Enjolras’ face fell. “But I would like that. Though, perhaps we ought to keep the fighting clean. And possibly to a minimum but let’s be realistic here, I don’t think either of us can go a day without starting something with the other.”

They both were smiling now, both actually happy in each other’s presence for the first time in what felt like ages. Grantaire rested the painting against the edge of the sofa once he realised he’d been awkwardly holding onto it the whole time. He went to clap Enjolras on the arm, but was pulled into a hug by the taller friend.

“I’m glad we cleared this up,” Enjolras muttered.

“Me too, I missed arguing with you too,” replied Grantaire. Enjolras grinned as they separated.

They spoke again at the same time.

“I should call Combeferre.”

“I should call Jehan.”

“I see we’ve both got our handlers then,” Grantaire joked.

“We prefer the term queer platonic partners, but whatever floats your boat,” Enjolras laughed.

“No, no that works for me and Jehan too. I should call hir though, zie’ll be worried we’ve killed each other or something so dramatic.”

“I think Combeferre had a little more hope in our ability to communicate, though not much given he and Courfeyrac had to set this whole thing up,” said Enjolras.

“So he did this… Remind me to hug them next time I see them.”

“So right now then,” Combeferre said as he came through the door.

“How did you know to come back?” Enjolras asked.

“We never left, honestly did you really think we weren’t going to make sure you didn’t actually kill each other?” Jehan piped up as zie followed Combeferre in.

“Thanks for that marvellous display of trust there, Jehan,” Grantaire said and stuck his tongue out at his flatmate.

“Always, mon ami,” Jehan replied with a wink.

“Well I don’t know about you all, but I could use a cup of tea,” Combeferre announced. There were calls of agreement, so he went to make a start on the drinks.

“Are you two okay, then?” Jehan asked.

“Yeah, that was. Useful,” Grantaire said.

“Probably the most pragmatic way to get us to talk,” Enjolras laughed quietly.

The four of them squeezed onto the couch and the old armchair, talking about all the things they’d never spoken about before; about past relationships, how exactly Combeferre and Enjolras met, that time Jehan punched a guy out for misgendering hir. They only wound the conversation down when they realised Enjolras was falling asleep on Combeferre’s shoulder, at which point they would have agreed they had become a much closer unit than they had ever been.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, wordslikeweeds! I hope you like it, it was a change for me writing these versions of les amis, but it was a fun challenge.
> 
> On that note, I'm not on the asexual spectrum, so if there's anything anyone thinks could have been handled better please let me know and I'll do my best to improve it!
> 
> For reference, I wrote Enjolras as agender, aromantic and asexual; Grantaire as a cismale aromantic asexual; Combeferre as a cismale biromantic demisexual; Courfeyrac as a cismale panromantic pansexual; and Jehan as a genderqueer panromantic asexual.


End file.
